Pre-Meeting Planning and
Meeting Facilitation
ETM5110/MSIS5600
Managing Virtual Project Teams
Nicholas C. Romano, Jr., Ph.D.
Nicholas-Romano@mstm.okstate.edu
Paul E. Rossler, Ph.D., P.E.
prossle@okstate.edu
1
Overview
• What things should be considered in
planning a virtual team meeting?
• How does facilitation work in a virtual
setting?
• What are the key facilitator roles and
behaviors?
2
• What tendencies do virtual teams
exhibit during meetings?
• What can be done to increase the
probability of good meeting outcomes?
3
Four roles relevant to all virtual
meetings
• Owner – defines meeting objectives and
outcomes
• Participant – prepare for meeting and take
active responsibility for involvement
• Facilitator – conducts the meeting process
• Technology – enables team members to
meet and accomplish tasks
4
All virtual meetings require three
activities
•
•
•
Selecting the appropriate technology and
type of interaction (synchronous,
asynchronous)
Planning for people issues, scheduling the
meeting, and dealing with meeting
logistics
Developing an effective agenda and
facilitating the effective use of technology
5
Meeting purposes: Almost 2/3
involve complex group processes
29%
Reconcile conflict
26% Reach group decision or judgement
11% Solve a Problem
11% Ensure that everyone understands
5%
4%
4%
2%
Facilitate staff communicaiton
Gain support for a program
Explore new ideas and concepts
Accept Reports
2% Demonstrate a project or system
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
(Monge, P. R., McSween, C., & Wyer, J. 1989)
6
Audio Technology
• Advantages
– in place
– easy to use
– cheap
• Disadvantages
– low media richness
– primarily “same time”
– less useful for large groups
7
Video Technology
• Advantages
– personal
– fulfills participant expectations
– high media richness
• Disadvantages
– not universally available
– expensive/lacking standards
– potential for cultural confusion
8
Data Technology
• Advantages
– widely available
– more time independent
– very cheap
• Disadvantages
– impersonal
– low media richness
– requires extended support
9
GroupSystems
• Integration of
–
–
–
–
Collaborative Technology
Attention Dynamics
Knowledge Management
Customized Repeatable Processes
10
Tech.
Mtg. Information Discussion/
Sharing
Brainstorming
Decisionmaking
Productproduction
Voice mail
Audio conf.
E-mail
Bulletin board
Real-time data
conf., no a, v
Video conf. w/o
shared docs
Real-time data
conf. w/ a, v, t, g
Electronic
meeting system
Collaborative
writing w/ a, v
Based on Duarte and Snyder, 2001
11
Team Processes
Idea
Generation
Idea
Organization
Idea Evaluation
and Prioritization
Idea
Exploration
Idea Development
and Exposition
GSS Tools
Brainstorming
Topic Commenter
Idea Organizer
Categorizer
Group Outliner
Group Matrix
Alternative Evaluator
Vote
Stake Holder Analysis
Assumption Surfacing
Group Writer
Team Graphics
Screen Prototyper12
Other Tools
Activity
Modeler
Survey
Alternative
Analysis
Vote
Categorizer
Outliner
Topic
Commenter
Electronic
Brainstorming
Collaborative Technology Uses
Data Standardization
Logical Data Modeling
Physical Data Modeling & Population
Legacy System Analysis
Migration Systems Identification
Functional Requirements Definition
Functional Feedback on Prototype Systems
Business Re-engineering/Modeling
Strategic Planning
Proposals (DEIS II, TASC, CIM Tools, SBPR)
Division (SED) Logistics
Functional User Conferences & Demos
13
Guidelines for who
to invite to meetings
• Relevant experience
• Must be in on decision
• Are crucial to
implementation
• Most affected by the
problem addressed
• Responsible to resolve
or implement decision
• Direct responsibility
and authority over
topic of discussion
• Enough knowledge to
contribute
meaningfully
• Information
unavailable elsewhere
Summarized in Romano, N.C. and J.F. Nunamaker. Meeting analysis: Findings from research and
practice. In Proceedings of 34th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. 2001:
14
IEEE.
Optimal traditional meeting sizes
Meeting Type
Maximum #
Participants
Comments
Problem solving
5
Decision making
5
Problem identification
10
More may bog down process
Training seminar
15
Especially hands on
Informational
30
To promote interaction
Review or presentation
30
Motivational
No limit
Source: 3M Meeting Management Team and J. Drew, Mastering meetings:
Discovering the hidden potential of effective business meetings. 1994, New York:
McGraw-Hill.
15
Developing an agenda
Handle
before
meeting
List
potential
topics
Define
goal
for each
Handle
during
meeting
Prioritize
topics and
specify
success for
each
Handle
after
meeting
Based on Kaner, S., Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision-Making.
1996, Gabriola Island, British Columbia: New Society Publishers.
16
Example meeting planning
format
Agenda
Item
Duarte and Snyder, 2001
Process
Technology Facilitation
Selected
Goals
17
Building the agenda
18
Deciding participant privileges
19
Example virtual team meeting
agenda
20
Factors that influence meeting
effectiveness
•
•
•
•
Ability to recall what was said
Opportunity to contribute
Social status
Motivation to participate
21
Relationship between meeting
factors and facilitation
Factors that Influence
Meeting Effectiveness
Facilitator Tasks
Ability to recall what was Help people find and
said
remember information
Opportunity to contribute Provide opportunity for
people to contribute
Social status
Reduce social pressure
that limits participation
Motivation to participate Increase motivation to
participate
22
Source of facilitation lies on a
continuum
One or more people
Embedded
in software
(Source: Doug Vogel)
23
A variety of problems lead to
unproductive meetings
•
•
•
•
•
Pace
Poor meeting design
Poor focus
Lack of closure
Poor process
Research findings summarized in Bostrom, R.P., R. Anson, and V.K. Clawson,
Group facilitation and group support systems, in Group Support Systems, L.M.
Jessup and J.S. Valacich, Editors. 1993, MacMillan Publishing: New York. p. 14624
168.
Interventions that improve group
processes and outcomes
1. Applying Structured Procedures
–
–
–
–
–
providing instructions to group members
extending problem formulation
extending idea generation
separating idea generation from evaluation
delaying solution adoption
Research findings summarized in Bostrom, R.P., R. Anson, and V.K. Clawson,
Group facilitation and group support systems, in Group Support Systems, L.M.
Jessup and J.S. Valacich, Editors. 1993, MacMillan Publishing: New York. p. 14625
168.
2. Encouraging Effective Task Behaviors
–
–
–
–
discussing task procedures
applying explicit criteria
using factual information
maintaining focus on task goals
26
3. Encouraging Effective Relational
Behaviors
–
–
–
–
–
encouraging broad participation and influence
managing conflict constructively
emphasizing consensus acceptance over
majority votes
applying active listening techniques
discussing interpersonal processes
27
4. Training
–
–
training group members and/or leaders
training external facilitators
28
Facilitator behaviors
•
•
•
•
Recognizing stages of group process
Providing motivation
Establishing a model of behavior
Managing group creativity, anxiety, and
conflict
Source: Hayne, S.C., The facilitators perspective on meetings and
implications for group support systems design. The DATA BASE for
Advances in Information Systems, 1999. 30(3, 4): p. 72-90
29
• Maintaining awareness of own feelings as
an indicator
• Demonstrating flexibility
30
Facilitator interventions
•
•
•
•
•
Planning the meeting
Observing communication patterns
Determining levels of consensus
Creating situations conducive to learning
Synthesizing information and building
cognitive maps (categories)
(Source: Hayne)
31
•
•
•
•
Recognizing implicit vs. explicit decisions
Detecting variance from structures
Confronting the group regarding its process
Providing structure to focus group limits
and boundaries
• Intervening when appropriate at level of
group instead of individual
• Providing closure
32
Facilitator roles
• Ensuring members identify and maintain discussion
focus and a procedure for that focus
• Ensuring everyone has an opportunity to contribute
to the discussion and decisions regarding focus,
procedures and decision issues
• Understanding group values and providing new
values in the process
• Sensitivity to time management
(Source: Hayne)
33
Some techniques
•
•
•
•
Auditing team commitment
Nominal group technique
Baby and bathwater technique
Multi-voting
34
Auditing team commitment
Not Urgent  Demands Immediate
Attention
Solvability Beyond Our Control  Can Solve
Ourselves
Scope
Easily Solved  Requires Extensive
Effort
AccountNot Individually Accountable  Fully
ability
Accountable
Feasibility Won’t Work  Will Definitely Work
Criticality
35
Nominal group technique for
generating/prioritizing ideas
•
•
•
•
Silent generation
Round robin listing
Clarification (modification, grouping)
Voting and ranking (vote score, number of
votes)
– 7 = most important, 1 = least important
• Discussion and action planning
36
Baby and bathwater technique for
managing disagreement
Person A’s
Viewpoint
Person B’s
Viewpoint
Points of
Agreement
Points of
Disagreement
37
Multi-voting for sorting out
strongly held positions
• The same idea can look different depending
on the criterion used
– Can cast votes based on one or several criteria
– Can cast all votes for one or several ideas
38
Summary
• Four roles must be played in virtual team
meetings (owner, participant, facilitator,
technology)
• All virtual team meetings require selecting
the right technology, developing an agenda,
and facilitating that technologies use
• Structure, process, and facilitation influence
meeting outcomes
39